When Bloomberg reporter Al Hunt asked him if Republicans who oppose illegal immigration are racists, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said he sees his own children in the illegal immigrant kids who are flooding across the border.

During this weekend’s Political Capital, Hunt asked Gutierrez whether “some racism” was involved in the opposition to illegal immigrants.

“When I see those children, I see my own daughter. I can’t help but see that,” Gutierrez, who was born in Chicago, answered. “I see my nieces and nephews.”

Gutierrez continued, “I just wonder, don’t you see your children and other children in the same? Because that’s really what this is about.”

Gutierrez also called on Obama to visit the border to “own” the issue and revealed that Obama told him in March that he should bring a “menu” of executive actions to him if Congress did not pass amnesty legislation, which Gutierrez said he would do later this month.

After House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was ousted because of his support for amnesty legislation, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) informed Obama that the House would not vote on amnesty legislation this year. Obama then promptly vowed to change as many of the country’s immigration laws as possible via unilateral executive actions.